This summer, the Dutch/Croatian artist Eerie Wanda will release Internal Radio, her third album and second for Joyful Noise. Visual artist and musician Marina Tadic writes the songs, and is joined by her partner, Adam Harding (Dumb Numbers, Kidbug), and Kramer (Galaxie 500, Unrest, Ween, Daniel Johnston) on the new album, which was recorded at home in the Netherlands. On these 11 songs, it’s clear that Tadic is becoming the artist she wants to be, working through some things, and even exorcizing a few demons. The album opens with “Sail to the Silver Sun,” which feels like a codeine bath washing over your exhausted soul. “The mystery of life and death is often on my mind,” she says. Whereas her previous albums leaned toward upbeat, guitar-focused pop, Internal Radio sounds like a more experimental, otherworldly, serious grown-up affair, venturing into sensitive emotional territory. The intimate, personal songs here reflect the solitude many of us have felt these past few years, recalling artists such as Lida Husik and Edith Frost.
Tadic, who started writing songs at age 14 when she got her first guitar, takes an intuitive approach to making music. “I will forever be fascinated by ideas and where they come from,” she says. “It’s magical how we can get this little seed of an idea and when giving it attention it grows into a whole new universe.” On Internal Radio, she wanted to tune in to her deepest feelings and create something which sounded new to her. Allowing herself to confront some darker emotions, previously pushed aside, yielded many of the songs. She’s also into paranormal phenomena like near death experiences, telepathy, and UFOs, and those things impact the music she makes as well. Without a full band and instead using haunting, ethereal spaces, she has really found her “weird inner world.” “It has been a real joy to work with Kramer because he knows and feels the heart of a song and has amazing stuff to add,” she says.